<Three days later>

"Hey, Kazuki, why'd you come to this town?"

"Hm?" I looked at Vel after his question had registered in my brain. "I don't really know. I just happened to pass by here, and I just kinda had to stay for a while."

I couldn't tell them that I was reincarnated from another world and just went to this place to get stronger in order to find someone, and probably protect this world from something I have yet to know. They wouldn't believe that, I'm sure of it.

"Ahh…that's understandable." Vel quieted down and continued to read through the book he was advised to read and understand.

We were in the guild, along with Tia, searching for important information about the dungeon's contents and monsters. It wasn't really what we wanted to do(well, except for me) since we planned on going back into the dungeon to go to floor 2 and find the boss room, the place where I fought that irregular boss. From what I've learned, the bosses and demon beasts in the dungeon reappear at very random intervals that they haven't found an explanation for.

The three of us were in the archive part of the guild near the grounds at the back and we were called here by an adviser chosen for us after we had been given our licences. An adviser is something like a guide, someone that would of course give you advice about either the dungeon or just the outside where demon beasts also appear. And our advisor…

"Hey, you three, are you done yet?" Chloe, our advisor, entered the room.

"I'm pretty much done."

"Nope." Vel and Tia simultaneously spoke.

Ah... they're blushing.

I smirked at the both of them, making sure that they are both saw. They felt more embarrassed than earlier. Teasing them was just so fun that I couldn't resist doing so. They probably already know that their feelings are mutual. I should probably set something up in the future.

I then turned to Chloe and asked. "Can I get another book to read? They might take a little while."

"Well, it's not like you're not permitted to use this place whenever you need to " She replied to me, giving me a shrug before walking up to Vel and Tia to talk about something probably related to the dungeon.

So, I walked around, looking for something something random to check out. And since I had nothing in mind, I went to look for some sort of record about important people. I just randomly thought about it and took the latest record I could find. It was a book of people who've been either recognized or those of the royal families. It contained the names of those known in the years of 4901 up to 4910, which was last year.

I took the book back at the table with Vel and Tia and read through it. I was pretty bored so I just read through the book from the back. I was slightly entertained and just continued reading the book like that. Though, the three around me looked at me with slightly judging eyes, I just shrugged.

There wasn't really much for me to say about it. It was just a record of people. So, just to pass some time with things that actually might help me in the future, I decided to read a book about spells.

It's contents weren't really that of the advanced types but only the basic magic spells since I basically only knew of those back in my world. They might have some different skills that I might be able to learn and cultivate myself

After the other two finished their assignment, we were finally able to go into the dungeon. While they were doing their work, I was able to learn a few skills. But I have yet to test them out and actually acquire the skill. I have the chance to do that in the dungeon.

But after we had left the guild, Tia spoke up. "Ah! Now I remember! I have something to do back at home!"

"Wait, didn't you already do every-"

"Sorrygottago" She immediately ran away. "Bye~!"

She didn't just do that…

Vel and I were left standing there, frozen, not knowing what to do now. He looked a bit mad at Tia for a little while but then returned to his normal expression. But now that Tia wasn't here with him, he generally doesn't know what to do. He usually depends on her to be able to socialize. But now that he's gotten a new friend, which was me unsurprisingly, she thought that it might be a good idea to leave us two together.

Looking at each other with slightly confused looks, we sighed and nodded to each other. Without Tia, we continued to walk towards the dungeon to earn our daily hoard of crystals and some materials. Though it was a silent trip, the both of us unusually understood each other with just a few nods. I guess being filled with anxiety in the past had helped me broaden my ability to understand people who were like me in the past.

So, upon entering the dungeon and easily passing through the first floor, which had no boss nor slightly powerful demon beasts, we were able to go to the second floor and actually find the boss room without the help of the map in a short amount of time. We were probably just not effectively working in the past days since Tia had very little stamina and couldn't really keep up with us when we were traversed the dungeon.

Also, for the past few days, I've been holding back my strength a little since preservation of energy is important and because the other two didn't really have stats as high as mine. Which was +300 on average, while theirs were basically about the same as my stats when I was recently reincarnated.

But during the times we three would delve into the dungeon to collect crystals for money and other materials, they would receive status and skill points a lot more than they usually would. And thanks to the appraisal ring that I basically didn't need, they could update their status much more frequently. They were even surprised that I gave it to them. I think they said that it was a pricey item.

But luckily for those who do not have a system given to them or an appraisal ring, there's always an appraisal orb at the church in town. But there's a fee, just a single silver coin. A SILVER COIN. I have no right to complain since I pretty much don't need to use the orb nor am I broke, but what about those that have only little money? It's almost the same as the indulgences. Except for the being saved from the fires of hell part. Here, you get saved from being weak, you might even continue being weak even if you do use the orb to update your status.

Now let's get that out of the way. Right now, Vel and I are in front of the boss room. It was still the same as I last saw it. That wasn't really a fond memory of mine. But still, it was a great experience.

That bear was tough though, I even thought that I might actually die again at that time. But I didn't, unusually… And I was able to kill the boss, single handedly… as a level 1… with the stats of an average, non-adventurer, and non-mixed blood human… And the bear was supposed to be able to easily kill peak level 1s…

Just how did I win at that time? I should've died at the moment I entered the boss room… but how exactly did I survive? And win at that? Did someone weaken it? Was it actually just a really weak monster? Or is it just plain Deus Ex Machina? I really do not know. I would probably understand once I find enough clues.

"So, you wanna beat the boss now? Or should we do it another time with Tia?" Vel asked, lightly gripping his sword in its sheath.

"Well, we both do have a lot of mana recovery potions and your stats are basically all above one hundred now, we could probably beat it without even using any skill except [Body Enhancement]"

"You do have a point, let's beat it then." He nodded and grabbed hold of the handle of one of the doors while I held the other.

Upon opening up the room, the torches around the room lit up. In the middle of the room was a creature, furry, brown, and somewhat large. It was a grizzly bear, the demon beast kind. It wasn't an irregular this time, phew.

Then I looked at Vel, he looked like he was about to start running. Not away from the bear, but towards it. He has a bit of a battle hungry tendency, a bit like me when I'm immersed in a fight.

"Vel, after I count to three, we sprint towards it and we attack both its sides. If you want, we could just immediately decapitate it."

"Let's quickly end this, I want to see what it drops." He smirked.

"Decapitation it is… NOW!"

Both of us unsheathed the bastard swords we ad strapped to our waist and began sprinting towards the bear. We were using [Body Enhancement] and the breathing technique I knew so we would be a lot more powerful that we normally would be. Though, Vel hasn't perfected his use of the breathing but it still works.

Dodging the initial swing of the bear by jumping up in the air, both of us swung our swords at its neck, drawing a cross made with two arcs in the air and decapitating the bear. With both of us landing on the ground perfectly, we high fived with each other.

"That was awesome! I wonder what else we could do!" Vel excitedly remarked.

"You should probably think about the rewards first." I pointed to the body of the bear, which exploded into smoke and left behind a crystal and a small chest.

Vel quickly ran up to the chest and passed me the crystal to put inside my bag. He opened the chest up and inside he found a pair of boots with brown fur, a red gem, and some piece of paper.

"Kazuki, look at this! It's a fire gem!"

"Really?! Then we could probably put an artificial enchantment on one of our weapons right?"

Artificial enchantment, it's basically just weapon enchantment but you use a catalyst or gem in order to power the weapon, and not through the use of your mana. It was a basic concept to understand but it really has a lot of applications.

"Yeah, we can. And this paper here even gives me a blueprint of the weapon we should put it on." He then showed me the paper.

On it, there were many instructions about the gem and how the weapon would be made. It looked a bit complicated but it was pretty easy to understand and follow. Also, the weapon illustrated on the paper was just a simple longsword, as you would expect.

"We should probably get back to the surface. We've already finished our quota and found out that the boss on floor 2 would be very easy for us to beat."

"Yeah, we really should, and I really miss seeing Tia already."

The both of us exited the boss room and just walked our way through the dungeon since we didn't really have anything important to do. So, I tried to converse about something a little more personal.

"You really do like Tia don't you?"

He looked a bit embarrassed as he replied. "Well, that's already pretty obvious right?"

"Totally. She probably already knows about it and just too embarrassed to return the feelings." I chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah, tease me all you want, I won't break." He said to me. "Then what about you, you have someone you like?"

"More like slightly unsure if I like, love, or just adore that person."

"Wait, don't those three just mean the same thing?"

"Technically yes, technically no."

"That girl is probably really lucky with you being interested in her."

"What the hell are you on about? I'm probably a really bad person if you look at all of my past actions!"

"And why is that?"

"I would prioritize saving her and not anyone else even if she wanted to help. I would immediately keep her away from the danger."

The memory of that day returned to me, that time I was killed alongside the girl I liked by someone I didn't know nor remember. It made my heart ache a little, regaining the memory of that girl speak with her voice slowly dying out. I remembered slightly hating myself at the time for not being able to protect her from harm.

"What's so wrong with that?" Vel replied to me. "Isn't protecting her just you showing your love for her? It isn't bad if you do it for someone you care about, unless it can really be justified as bad."

"Hmmmm…good point… I guess?"

"Ahaha, you're really confusing."

"You can say that again." I joked. "I can't even understand myself that much."

Until the both of us reached the exit, the both of us continued to chat about random things. Though most of what we talked about was regarding the girls we liked. I kinda felt like we've found something new to talk about.

So, after exiting the dungeon, we went back to the guild to exchange the crystals we got and collected. All of it equalled to 4 gold, 24 silver, and 30 bronze coins. Since it was even, we split it in half. And after talking for a bit, we went our different ways.

With me alone for the remainder of the afternoon, I just went to the archive at the guild. So, I wasted away my time collecting some information about the history and magic of this world.

I didn't really learn much of the magic since the advanced ones were a bit complicated. But I did learn a little more about the history. Though I didn't think that I would finish in just a few hours, so I just walked around town to find something else to do.

Seeing the town in the shadow of night was pretty new to me. I just had things to do for the past few days and I was unable to wander around at these times. But now that I pretty much had nothing better to do, I took the chance to look around.

There were less people outside but the amount of people was still many. The ones outside were mostly adults, some probably planning on doing something I'd rather not think about since they're mature matters.

There were also some stalls that I don't ever see during earlier times of day. I walked up to one that piqued my interest. It was a stall that sold jewelry. But I sensed a bit of mana coming from the gemstones in them. I checked one necklace and examined it for a bit.

"Does that necklace interest you sir?" The merchant asked.

"Oh, not really, but…"

I placed the necklace back where it belongs and gazed at a certain ring to my right. It was a completely black ring which had a slot for a gemstone but was completed empty.

"That ring? It's part of a set for two; a black ring, and the white one."

I had an unusual feeling that I needed to buy the rings. I had no idea why I felt that way but my gut keeps telling me that I would regret it if I didn't buy the pair. Then…

A sudden flash of memories appeared in front of my eyes for a second but then disappeared almost instantly. The things I saw were three scenes; some sort of meeting between two people, a marriage proposal, and lastly the ceremony. I had absolutely no recollection of me getting married, but the boy in the flash of memories was the spitting image of me, the face to be exact. I didn't know what that meant, but I knew it was important and kept it in mind.

"I'll buy the set." The flash of memories pushed me to act.

"Ahh, an interesting young man you are, it'll be four gold."

I had enough to buy the pair of rings, and I did. The feeling of relief from buying the rings unusually made me a bit happy. So, after storing the rings and continuing my evening walk, I wondered for a while.

Was that a flash of past memories or is it some sort of destined future?

<To be continued…>